Professional Documents
Culture Documents
T. Chanier1
1
Department of Physics, University of Namur, rue de Bruxelles 61, B-5000 Namur, Belgium
The Maya were known for their astronomical proficiency. Whereas Mayan mathematics were
based on a vigesimal system, they used a different base when dealing with long periods of time,
the Long Count Calendar (LCC), composed of different Long Count Periods: the Tun of 360 days,
the Katun of 7200 days and the Baktun of 144000 days. There were three other calendars used in
addition to the LCC: a civil year Haab of 365 days, a religious year Tzolkin of 260 days and a 3276day cycle (combination of the 819-day Kawil cycle and 4 colors-directions). Based on astronomical
arguments, we propose here an explanation of the origin of the LCC, the Tzolkin and the 3276-day
cycle. The study provides new evidences on the astronomical knowledge of the Maya.
the Tzolkin, which has been associated with various astronomical cycles. Three Tzolkin correspond to Mars
synodic period, 16 Tzolkin equal 11 of Saturn synodic
periods (+2 days), and 23 Tzolkin are equivalent to 15
Jupiter synodic periods (-5 days).2 It has been tentatively
connected to the eclipse half-year (173.31 days) because 2
Tzolkin are very close to 3 eclipse half-years.3 Finally, it
has been noted that the Tzolkin approximates the length
of time Venus is visible as a morning or evening star.4
However, these interpretations fail to link the Tzolkin
to the LCPs. The Kawil cycle has been attributed to
the observation of Jupiter and Saturn5,6 because 19 (6)
Kawil correspond to 39 (13) Jupiter (Saturn) synodic period. Four numbers of possible astronomical significance
have been discovered on the walls of a residential structure in Xultun, Guatemala and have been dated from
the early 9th century CE. The Xultun numbers are given
in Table I. They are such that X1 = 365 3276 and
X3 = X2 + 2X0 .
Xi
X0
X1
X2
X3
LCC
2.7.9.0.0
8.6.1.9.0
12.5.3.3.0
17.0.1.3.0
D [day] Xi /56940
341640
6
1195740
21
1765140
31
2448420
43
2
Planet
P [day]
Mercury
116
Venus
584
Earth
365
Mars
780
Jupiter
399
Saturn
378
Lunar
177
senesters
178
Pentalunex 148
Prime factorization
22 29
23 73
5 73
22 3 5 13
3 7 19
2 33 7
3 59
2 89
22 37
Name
Tun
Katun
Baktun
Pictun
Calabtun
Kinchiltun
i
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Ci [day]
18
360
7200
144000
2880000
57600000
1152000000
Pi
P
N /13/73/ 60 Ci
P5
N /13/73/ 0 Ci
P
N /13/73/ 40 Ci
P3
N /13/73/ 0 Ci
P
N /13/73/ 20 Ci
P1
N /13/73/ 0 Ci
N /13/73/C0
Di
18
360
7215
144304
2886428
57866020
1215186420
3
the Baktun cycle coincides with the Tzolkin cycle every
13 Baktun, corresponding to approximately 5125 years.
This is the origin of the 13 Baktun cycle. Because 73
is not present in the prime factorizations of the LCPs,
we obtain LCM(365,D) = 73 D. This gives rise to 73
LCP cycles. Moreover, the LCM(260,365,D) = 13 73
D. This is the case of the Xultun number X0 = 341640
= LCM(260,365,360) which makes coincide the Tzolkin,
the Haab and the Tun.
Planet
P [day] N = LCM(P ,L)
Mercury
116
950040
Venus
584
2391480
Earth
365
2391480
Mars
780
32760
Jupiter
399
622440
Saturn
378
98280
Lunar
177
1932840
semesters
178
2915640
Pentalunex 148
1212120
N /260 N /2340 N /L
3654
406
29
9198
1022
73
9198
1022
73
126
14
1
2394
266
19
378
42
3
7434
826
59
11214 1246
89
4662
518
37
FIG. 1. Pyramid of Kukulkan during an equinox. The pyramid is situated at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico.
N /P
65
65
52
1
260
130
260
130
65
4
the Calendar Round, which is the LCM(260,365) = 73
260 = 52 365 = 18980 days. There is a coincidence between Venus synodic period and the Tzolkin:
the LCM(260,584) = 65 584 = 146 260 = 104 365
= 37960 days (2 Calendar Rounds), the length of the
Venus Table on pages 24-29 of the Dresden Codex. Two
other cycles are based on the coincidence of the Tzolkin
and the 234- and 338-day periods: the LCM(260,234) =
9 260 = 2340 days and the LCM(260,338) = 13 260
= 3380 days. There is also a coincidence between Mars
synodic period and the Haab: the LCM(780,365) = 73
780 = 219 260 = 156 365 = 56940 days (3 Calendar Rounds): this is the largest common divisor of the
Xultun numbers (Table I). We have: X2 = Z + 2X0 and
X3 = Z + 4X0 where Z = 19 56940 = 1081860 days =
7.10.5.3.0 in the LCC or 23 August 152 BC according to
the GMT correlation. This date may have been of some
particular importance.
The study presented here describe a possible explana-
A. F. Aveni, in Skywatchers: A Revised and Updated Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico (University of Texas
Press, 2001), p. 136.
J. S. Justeson, The ancient Maya Ethnoastronomy: An
Overview of Hieroglyphic Sources, in World Archaeoastromy: Selected Papers from the Second Oxford International Conference on Archaeoastronomy, edited by A. F.
Aveni, (Cambridge University Press, 1989), p. 82.
A. F. Aveni, in Skywatchers: A Revised and Updated Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico (University of Texas
Press, 2001), p. 144.
H. M. Bricker and V. R. Bricker, in Astronomy in the
Maya Codices (American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 2011), p. 69.
F. G. Lounsbury, in Maya Numeration, Computation, and
Calendrical Astronomy. Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. 15, suppl. 1, edited by Charles Coulston-Gillispie,
(New York: Charles Scribers Sons, 1978), p. 811
J. S. Justeson, The ancient Maya Ethnoastronomy: An
Overview of Hieroglyphic Sources, in World Archaeoastromy: Selected Papers from the Second Oxford International Conference on Archaeoastronomy, edited by A. F.
Aveni, (Cambridge University Press, 1989), p.103.
W. A. Saturno, D. Stuart, A. F. Aveni and F. Rossi, Science 336, 714 (2012).
e-mail: thomas.chanier@gmail.com
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Planetary/factsheet/
H. M. Bricker and V. R. Bricker, Current Anthropology
24, 1-23 (1983).
H. M. Bricker and V. R. Bricker, in Astronomy in the
Maya Codices (American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 2011), pp. 163, 367, 847.
H. M. Bricker and V. R. Bricker, in Astronomy in the
Maya Codices (American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 2011), p. 235.
A. F. Aveni, in Skywatchers: A Revised and Updated Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico (University of Texas
Press, 2001), pp. 156-157.
E. H. Boone, in Cycles of Time and Meaning in the Mexican Books of Fate (University of Texas Press, 2007), pp.
44-45.
F. Lounsbury, in Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol.
15, (Scribners, New York, 1978), suppl. 1, p. 787.
T. A. Joyce, in Mexican Archaeology: An Introduction to
the Archaeology of the Mexican and Mayan Civilizations
of Pre-Spanish America (Cambridge University Press, New
York, 1914), p. 64.
L. Schele and D. Freidel, in A forest of Kings (New York
William Morrow and Co., 1990), p. 134.
P. J. OBrien and H. D. Christiansen, American Antiquity
51, 136 (1986).